Tony Scott was the first director that made me pay attention to directors. I was 15 when “True Romance” came out, and I remember watching the credits afterward to find out who directed it. I understood that movies were big productions with lots of moving pieces, but it was one of the first times I … Continue Reading →
Josh Hutcherson looked about 12 years old. Chris Hemsworth was not yet Thor. The year was 2009 and “Red Dawn” was being filmed in Detroit. Then “Red Dawn” disappeared. The remake of a 1984 film that had Russia invading America got caught up in the financial swirls surrounding MGM and never made its Nov. 2010 … Continue Reading →
Detroit musician Rodriguez, the subject of the new documentary “Searching for Sugar Man,” appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman Tuesday to perform his song “Crucify Your Mind.” Watch the clip here: Letterman did a good job of summing up Rodriguez’ story when he said, “it’s fascinating and wildly entertaining and incomprehensible, but true.” … Continue Reading →
If there’s one thing this past month at the box office has shown it’s that without “The Avengers” and “The Hunger Games” 2012 would be a bust. First off, the top 10 films this past weekend only took in $126 million, which was down 25 percent from the same weekend last year. “The Watch,” which … Continue Reading →
The trailer for Sam Raimi’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” debuted online today, and it looks a little… worrisome. The would-be Disney epic was shot last year at Pontiac’s Raleigh Michigan Studios and focuses on the origins of the story of Oz. It stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz. From the … Continue Reading →
These days, I mostly do binge TV. While I realize this is hardly akin to admitting to crack addiction, there is a bit of of an internet rumble going on these days over the proper way to watch television. A recent article in Slate by Jim Pagels warned of the dangers of watching all the … Continue Reading →
Seeing as the year is half-over, the Geneva Convention requires me, as a licensed film critic, to cough up a list of my top five films of the year so far. Looking over a rough draft of nominees I find that I am indeed a film critic: Elitist, over-exposed, drawn to the overtly weird and … Continue Reading →
Have you seen the new “Dark Knight Rises” trailer? Better question: Have you been able to keep up with all the “Dark Knight Rises” trailers? I stopped paying attention to them awhile ago. I don’t need to see any more trailers for it; I decided I was going to see it the moment they announced … Continue Reading →
I saw Ice-T’s documentary “The Art of Rap” this week. When I went, the theater wasn’t very crowded. This wasn’t surprising. No one expected “The Art of Rap,” a documentary about hip-hop focusing on the genre’s originators, to light up the box office. But when I went, there was literally no one else in the … Continue Reading →
It was no secret that Adam Sandler’s “That’s My Boy” was a dog: For starters, I called it “Sandler’s latest summertime dog” in my review the other day. Sandler movies never get good reviews, so this was no surprise. The 23 percent rating it earned on Rotten Tomatoes is pretty much par for the course … Continue Reading →